This invention relates to reusable shopping bag assemblies and more particularly to a reusable shopping bag which can be used to carry purchased items and which also provides one or more storage compartments around its interior, each of which store another similar reusable shopping bag, so that a shopper does not have to use disposable plastic or paper shopping bags.
Presently, consumers are given disposable paper or plastic bags by stores to carry their purchased goods. The manufacture and disposal of these paper and plastic bags places a great burden on the environment. For instance, timber, from already depleted forests must be used to manufacture paper bags. Furthermore, a great deal of energy from already depleted energy sources must be used to manufacture these paper and plastic bags. The manufacture of the paper and plastic bags also creates air and water pollution in an already polluted world. Finally, the disposal of the paper and plastic bags places a great burden on already overflowing landfills, especially since most plastic bags are not biodegradable. The public has become increasingly aware of the environmental problems that technology has created.
Although reusable shopping bag assemblies have been developed over the years they have been slow to attain universal popularity. Some of these reusable shopping bag assemblies have compartments either in their interior or on their exterior. The reusable shopping bags are not, however, designed to carry a number of similar reusable shopping bags in their compartments in addition to providing storage for purchased items. They are thus not convenient when used while shopping for groceries or other items where several shopping bags full of goods are purchased at one time.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,527 to Geckler et. al. discloses a compartment bag. The Geckler compartment bag comprises a main body and an independent pocket exterior to the main body. The size of the exterior pocket is not affected by the insertion of shopping items into the main body. While the Geckler compartment bag is generally satisfactory for single bag storage, it does not provide the convenience of multiple bags stored within a single bag. For example, there is no provision for a similar bag that can be stored in the exterior pocket of the bag and removed so that additional shopping items may be placed therein. Even if there was such a provision, the main pocket is not designed so that it could stand alone as the similar bag is placed therein and is filled with shopping items.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,215 to Macieowitz discloses a utility bag having a recessed compartment. The patent discloses a utility bag which has a smaller bag connected to the interior of the utility bag in such a way that even when full, it is virtually invisible from the outside. Thus, valuables may be stored in the interior bag without the threat that the valuables could be spotted by a thief. There is no provision for a similar utility bag that can be stored in the interior compartment. The interior bag disclosed by Macieowitz is too small to serve as a full size shopping bag.